


Brace Yourself

by faiirychaewon



Series: Seventeen Hurt and Comfort [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Crutches, Hospitals, Hurt Hong Jisoo, Hurt Joshua, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Knee Pain, M/M, Sickfic, dislocated knee, dislocation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 04:54:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20772860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faiirychaewon/pseuds/faiirychaewon
Summary: "You've dislocated your knee bub. You need to go."-In which Joshua dislocates his knee at dance practice.





	Brace Yourself

**Author's Note:**

> Written before an ode was released so what I've written doesn't exactly fit with the dance for 'Fear'.

The American always found dance practices hard. He was a vocalist, not a dancer, and the sheer amount of talent that the performance team (and the stronger dancers like Mingyu and Jihoon) had meant that he was always falling behind, no matter how hard he practised. However, he continued to work hard, impressing the other members with his dedication, even though he was lacking in natural talent.

Dance practice, however, was almost their daily schedule, only being discarded during their brief periods of rest. So, every day, Joshua struggled through practice, constantly relaying the same small moves to eliminate any mistakes, even if he knew the fans wouldn’t see them. It was for himself; it was for the performance team; it was even for their staff. The added bonus of dancer carats appreciating his improvements just inspired him to work harder.

With the new release around the corner, practice was becoming more intense, and everyone was on the verge of exhaustion. The bags under each member’s eyes were darker than Joshua had ever seen, and some moves were becoming sloppier with time as opposed to cleaner, as the sleep-deprivation sunk in. Everyone could tell the performance team was becoming stressed (and almost mildly annoyed) at the deteriorating performance. 

Of course, they cared about the wellbeing of their teammates – they had been together for so long that all the pain one member felt was shared – but their job was in choreography, and the bad performance the members with lower stamina were giving was making their job much harder. Joshua felt guilty, knowing he was one of the worst members, but he was trying hard with his dancing – and he knew the moves he wasn’t struggling with were pretty much perfect.

“Let’s have a five-minute break! Hopefully we should be able to go home within the hour if we keep working hard!” Soonyoung shouted, picking up his water bottle. Everybody immediately sighed in relief, retreating back to their bags and drinking something cool. 

Joshua sunk down the wall, sipping on his water. His watch showed the time to be 4:23, so if they finished within the hour, they would be home by about 6. This was 2 and a half hours earlier than they had been getting home recently, which would hopefully lead too everyone getting a good night’s sleep. As one of the oldest, Joshua felt responsible for looking after the younger members, even now, with Chan already being 20, so he was worried about so many of the youngster’s losing too much sleep. He barely thought about the lack of sleep he himself was getting.

He looked at his feet that were stretched out in front of him, zoning out for most of the break. It was only Junhui’s sharp shout that broke him from his thoughts, startling him enough to physically flinch at the sound. 

After taking a final sip of his water, he used the wall to drag himself up, and he became aware of a small nagging pain in his right knee. He bent down and stretched a bit more pre-dancing, hoping to ease his discomfort.

Well, we only have an hour left. It’s probably just a bad bruise Joshua thought. He had fallen earlier in the day onto that knee, so it was not out of the realms of possibility. And, with Fear’s choreography frequently demanding Joshua to be in his knees – almost to the extent of Don’t Wanna Cry – he knew his knee would be in bad shape again.

They got into their starting positions – Joshua’s right knee being on the floor, which caused him to internally wince. Nobody noticed as the music started to play, and everybody focused on making every move as perfect as they could, ignoring everybody else. As the strong bass radiated through the boys’ bodies, they forgot about everything that wasn’t their dancing, and even Joshua lost his doubtful thoughts in the music.

As fast as the music had started, it had finished. Joshua hadn’t realised how quickly he had felt the dance pass – the team was panting heavily and tired, but the music started once again and they scrambled back into positions, working through faults with practise and sheer determination.

“Okay, we’re nearly done, and we haven’t run ‘Home’ in a while, so shall we do that a few times and then wrap up for the day?” Soonyoung ‘suggested’ – however everybody knew that it wasn’t an idea, it was a command.

The music started and Seventeen scrambled into position, unprepared for the instantaneous start. As they were rusty with the choreography, Josh struggled to remember quite what to do, but he was worried about the triple axel. His knee was already sore, and he could remember that every landing was on his wounded leg.

He didn’t struggle with most of the dance – the song and choreography were much calmer than their latest comebacks, so it was almost like a cool-down. However, the triple axel was approaching faster than he anticipated, as it was only around 40 seconds into the song.

The axel came, and the American jumped, but after landing a loud pop echoed through the room, followed by a thud. The momentum that the group built up made it difficult for those but one boy saw the older fall and rushed to help before anybody else realised what was going on.

“You okay, hyung?” Seokmin asked, crouched down next to the American. This gained the attention of the others, who turned to look at the pair – Joshua lying flat on the floor and concern laced in the vocalist’s face and voice.

“Shit- I- uh-” he started, but the pain surging through his knee was distracting him from any words being formed – especially in Korean. Any time he was injured, his brain’s Korean switch instantly broke, and he although he could understand what was being said to him (albeit slowly), it was impossible for him to form any words.

By this point, everyone’s attention was on him. Joshua didn’t know this, as his eyes were squeezed tightly shut in pain, which only worried the group more. He didn’t have a low pain tolerance – so for him to be unable to even look at anything made everyone sick to their stomach.

“My knee,” he began, in English, which was all he could get out through the barrier of pain. Everyone looked at Vernon – although it was a simple word, it wasn’t common in their study, as they mainly learned words which would help them converse with them.

“His knee,” the younger responded, bringing everyone’s attention to it. Junhui tried to keep the younger members from crowding Josh – Vernon and Seokmin were allowed closer, but he tried to keep the others at bay. Hoshi had turned off the music so that the group could converse, Seungkwan didn’t want to get closer as he was too startled and was being taken care of by Mingyu - but Junhui was struggling to keep the other 4 away from their hyung.

Luckily, Joshua was wearing shorts, so the very visible injury was easily identified. His kneecap was definitely not in the place it was supposed to be, and it was already starting to swell slightly. No wonder he was in so much pain.

“That’s going to be a trip to the hospital – Jihoon, Wonwoo, could you get a manager please?” Jeonghan said, and the two who were previously trying to help Joshua were quick to leave the room.

“No…” Joshua whined feebly, the hurt in his voice piercing the member’s hearts. He managed to open his eyelids, the childlike pain and fear encased in his glossy eyes furthering the pain of the members.

“You’ve dislocated your knee, bub. You need to go.” Jeonghan ran his hand through Joshua’s hair, and he groaned (partly in pain, partly in annoyance). He was quiet for a few moments, clearly thinking hard on what he was trying to say. 

“But practice isn’t over…” he mumbled, and Vernon already worried face fell further, before he quickly reassured the older.

“Hyung, you can’t practise on that, you’re hurt. And besides, now we all also get a break – don’t you want that?” Vernon knew it was bad guilt-tripping the older, but he would be beating himself up all night anyway so giving him some reassurance that he wasn’t being a nuisance was what he knew he needed to tell him.

“I just… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that, hyung, please. It’s not your fault.”

“What’s he saying?” Jeonghan asked, barely understanding anything being said, as he understood very little English. Vernon shook his head, not wanting to upset his hyung, as he knew Jeonghan was close to freaking out – no matter how hard he tried to remain calm.

‘Later,’ he mouthed.

The door opened, signalling the return of Jihoon and Wonwoo. They were much faster than expected, but relief filled the members’ bodies at what they said.

“Manager’s calling an ambulance. It shouldn’t be too long before it comes. How’s hyung?” 

“Don’t wanna go…” The older repeated again, in English, which Vernon quickly translated for the team. 

“I know baby, but there’s nothing we can do now.” Jeonghan tried to reassure the American, who just put his hands over his face.

\---

Soonyoung perked up at the sound of the lock jiggling. He turned around on the couch, facing the door, which alerted the attention of the others who had not heard the unlocking. Mingyu tried not to chuckle at the puppy-like older. 

The door creaked open, and there was a sound of shuffling, and then some clicking. The door closed, and the two who had gone to hospital – Jeonghan and Joshua – entered the room. Joshua had a large knee brace encasing his leg, and on crutches. His face was pale and gaunt, highlighting his clear exhaustion.

Jeonghan helped the older make his way to the couch, holding his arms out to make sure that he didn’t fall. Once he got close, Soonyoung and Minghao jumped up to take over aiding Joshua.

“Doctor said it was dislocated – obviously.” Jeonghan explained, and Mingyu winced and nodded sadly. The older winced, although he tried to smile reassuringly to those who helped.

“I can’t dance for six weeks,” Joshua muttered bitterly, sinking back into the couch. He looked down at his feet, his disappointment clear by simply glancing at the boy. They were so close to their comeback, and their tour dates, that hadn’t been released to fans, were set. This was an injury they couldn’t afford to have – yet here they were.

“Don’t worry, hyung. We’ll figure out what adjustments we need to make. You need to focus on resting, so you can get well as soon as possible,” Soonyoung tried to reassure, rubbing a hand gently on Joshua’s shoulder. He didn’t want to disturb any part of Joshua’s leg by touching it, so afterwards he sat next to Minghao, curling in on the younger.

“I know its disappointing, but you can talk to any of us at any time, hyung.” Minghao reassured, and Joshua gave another (weak) smile.

“Now, did Seungcheol order the pizza yet?”


End file.
